


Bright Lights

by ro_mm_ck



Category: Harry Potter - Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-11-24
Updated: 2008-11-24
Packaged: 2017-10-11 18:50:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/115768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ro_mm_ck/pseuds/ro_mm_ck
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hermione comes back after leaving Ron.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bright Lights

**Author's Note:**

> Notes: This was written for moonnroses82 for her birthday. The story was inspired by the song Bright Lights by Matchbox Twenty. I put the ipod on shuffle and wrote a fic on the first song that came up. :) I wanted it to be longer... or at least pervier but my brain just wanted this kind of sweet and sort of angsty bit. I hope you like.

When the door opened, he knew she'd come home. He could hear the rain grow suddenly louder as she came inside and set her bags by the doorway. His first instinct was to run to the door and make sure she was real. He wanted to hold her close and reassure his tender heart that she wouldn't leave again. He wanted to run his hands through her tight curls and breathe in the scent that was solely Hermione's.

Instead he sat at the kitchen table, his cup of coffee still in his hands waiting for her to walk further into the house. Her footfalls echoed through the quiet halls as she walked through the living room they'd shared before she'd decided she needed some space, some time to sort her feelings out. When she turned the corner and looked into the kitchen, Ron could barely believe his eyes.

Her hair and clothes were soaked with rain and her eyes were circled in red. It looked like she'd been crying but Ron couldn't be sure. She had been the one to leave and he'd done his fair share of crying over her but it seemed too much to hope that she was coming back to him.

"Hi," she finally said.

"Hey," Ron answered back.

Hermione looked down at her feet and shuffled back and forth in the doorway. Ron tried not to smile at this typically un-Hermione behavior. When she committed to something, she went at it with all she had. He stood from his chair and walked to the coffee pot to refresh his cup.

"Coffee?" he asked calmly.

"Sure," Hermione said, smiling. "Coffee sounds great." She pulled out her wand and cast a drying charm on herself, avoiding her hair. Ron had seen what drying charms could do to her hair. A hawthorn tree would have an easier time detangling itself than Hermione's hair.

"You want a towel?" he asked, pointing to her hair as he set the cup in front of her. He knew that eventually they would have to talk, she would tell her story and he would tell his. At her nod, he walked to the cupboard and pulled out a bath towel.

He sat at the table and sipped his coffee next to the woman he had loved since they were in school. He looked at her as he remembered the night he'd asked her to marry him. He saw her hands shake as his mind played out the scene of her handing his ring back to him and telling him she needed space. He watched her lips blow the steam off her cup as the reel played out having to see her walking around with Draco Malfoy of all people.

"So," she said, obviously stalling. "What have you been up to?"

"Mostly the same," Ron said. He wasn't going to give her an inch. He didn't care that she looked like she'd cried as much as he had. He didn't care that his sister had called him with a story about how Hermione had spent the night on her couch drinking Fire Whiskey and weeping about how much she missed Ron. This was Hermione's story to tell and he was going to make her tell it.

"Ron," she said finally looking up from her cup. "I know I've turned everything into a big pile of mess and that I hurt you and you have every right to be mad with me. You have every right to hate me and never want to see me again. I was stupid and scared and I handled everything badly and..."

"And?" he prompted.

"And I love you," she sighed. "I don't know if there's anything else I _can_ say."

A beat passed between them. Ron stood from his chair and walked to her. He took Hermione's hand and quietly helped her to stand in front of him. His head tilted as he looked in her eyes, eyes he was so used to finding confidence and bossiness in. The reflection held fear this time and he couldn't be responsible for that. The stories would be told. He would find out what set her on a run but for now he just wanted her.

"I love you, too," he said and kissed her softly on the lips. Hermione wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer to her. When her body made contact with his, Ron couldn't control the moan that rose up in his throat. She'd always felt like home to him and being with anyone else felt like a lie. As the kiss deepened, Ron ran his hands along her back and hugged her closer. It was as if every inch of his body wanted its own proof that Hermione was the one they were holding. When he pulled away to look at her, he noticed the tears that had spilled down her cheeks.

"Tears?" he asked, taking a finger to wipe them from her skin.

"I never thought you'd want me back."

"Well, it's a good thing that I've always been the smart one then." He kissed her again and, though things felt differently than they had before, some part of him was sure that things would be different. They would finally let themselves be happy. She would be certain that he was who she wanted that here was where she wanted to be. It might have hurt something fierce but, maybe in the end, her trip to the bright lights of elsewhere would be worth it.


End file.
